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California Environmental Protection Agency ,*� ,JNEWS RELEASE Integrated Waste Management Board Attn: Environment Editor For Immediate Release Contact: Chris Peck November 29, 2000 Lanny Clavecilla 00-092 (916) 255-2296 opa@ciwmb.ca.gov WASTE BOARD TO EXTINGUISH TRACY TIRE FIRE TRACY -- After burning for more than two years, the tire fire at the Silas Royster property in Tracy will finally be extinguished. A contractor for the California Integrated Waste Management Board will begin fire suppression work early next week. The Waste Board is one of six boards and departments in the California Environmental Protection Agency. The majority of the fire has burned itself out and only a small portion of the site where the tire pile was the deepest still continues to smolder. Over a three-week period, remaining hot spots in the tire pile will be put out and ash from the fire will be consolidated then covered with soil. The fire suppression effort is being coordinated with the Tracy Fire Department, San Joaquin County Public Health Services, San Joaquin Valley Air Quality Management District, and California Air Resources Board. Activity on the site will start on Thursday, November 30 when workers will begin preparing the site for fire suppression activities. The burn ash will have to be moved to access the burning areas of the tire pile. The burn ash will be wetted to keep it from becoming airborne during this process. Fire suppression efforts are expected to begin in earnest on Tuesday, December 5. An excavator will pull small amounts of burning debris from the pile and spread them on the ground where they will be immediately extinguished with foam and water. Engineers and health officials do not anticipate any offsite exposure to smoke during the project. However, workers involved in the suppression effort -- heavy equipment operators, fire fighters and safety personnel --will wear protective equipment. Air quality will be continuously monitored during the fire suppression activities to ensure worker and public health and safety. The Waste Board's contractor, Sukut Construction (www.sukut.com) of Santa Ana, California is experienced in tire site cleanup and tire fire remediation. Sukut was the Board's contractor for cleanup of the Panoche burn site in Fresno County in 1996-97. A final report of the Panoche burn site remediation project is available on the Board's website at www.ciwmb.ca.gov/tiredisposal/fires/Panoche/. On August 7, 1998, an estimated seven million tires being illegally stored at the Royster tire site were ignited. Because of the site's bowl-shaped geography and limited past success with fire suppression efforts on similar sized tire fires, environmental and fire officials determined that the best strategy was to let the tires burn. This decision was made to avoid the creation of a more significant groundwater contamination problem that may have occurred had large volumes of (more)